Tuesday, January 16, 2018

ON SALE NOW!!!
(everywhere and anywhere)

Some praise:

"The One True Barbecue
is the whole hog of storytelling—sharp and witty prose, thoughtful
interviews, and deep, humane insights into what makes these pitmasters
cook." — Jami Attenberg, author of Saint Mazie

“With an
anthropologist's eye and a glutton's appetite, Rien Fertel crisscrossed
the American South on a pilgrimage to collect the wisdom of the great
pitmasters, practitioners of the vanishing art of whole-hog barbecuing.
Like all great food travelogues, you'll be tempted to consume this one
in a single sitting." — Mark Adams, author of Turn Right at Machu Picchu

“I devoured this book the same way I do good barbecue—in one big sitting with enough left over for the next day. The One True Barbecue
takes hog as its subject but is much more: history, sociology, race
relations, economics,and land. Read this for a view into the South, then
and now. It'll make your mouth water for more.” — Chris Offutt, author
of My Father, the Pornographer

"Crackling with southern
culture and history, Fertel's love for barbecue—from the pitmasters to
the culinary traditions—is alive on every page. Ajoy to read
and hog heaven for anyone who appreciates the nuances and delights of
barbecue at its finest." — Gilbert King, Pulitzer Prize-winning author
of Devil in the Grove

"Some barbecue cooks who still cook
whole hogs the old way are just stubbornly doing what their people have
always done. Others have studied the tradition and are reviving it in
unexpected places. Not surprisingly, all are interesting characters, as
Rien Fertel shows us in this fascinating book. A superb documentarian
with a wry sense of humor, Fertel also offers some thoughtful
observations about authenticity, gentrification, and celebrity. This
book should be read by anyone who thinks barbecue is about sticky red
sauce." — John Shelton Reed, co-founder of The Campaign for Real
Barbecue (TrueCue.org) and co-author of Holy Smoke: The Big Book of North Carolina Barbecue

"For
anyone interested in the origins, history, methods and spectacle of
whole-hog barbecue, this book is essential reading. And when Mr. Fertel
says that “all barbecue writing is hyperbole,” he sets a standard that
his writing wonderfully meets. Mr. Fertel leaves readers hungry not only
for barbecue but also for the barbecue country he so engagingly maps." —
The Wall Street Journal

"One Damn Good Book About American Barbecue." — Keith Pandolfi, Serious Eats

"Fertel’s
book [is] devoted to underscoring the absolute impossibility of
replicating the miracles that occur within the South’s most storied
pits. . . . He's also a winning writer, blessed with the gift of being
able to incorporate back stories and scenic details without making a
fuss about it. He spends far more time in the company of people than
food, but he’s good at conveying the joy of eating." — Hannah Raskin, Charleston Post and Courier

"A
timely profile of what is arguably the oldest food tradition in
existence. . . . It’s a book about food, sure, but it’s also about
people and places and history — everything that makes barbecue what it
is. And thanks in no small part to Fertel’s talent as a writer, it’s
exceptionally readable. . . . The pitmasters and local legends he
profiles — some of them, miraculously, alive; others long dead — jump
off the page." — Deseret News

"It
is the stories of the pit masters and their predecessors, told with a
sympathetic and fastidious eye, that give this hog its wings." —
Publishers Weekly

"Interweaving culinary and ethnographic history
with vibrant character profiles and mouthwatering food writing, Fertel
takes readers on an anthropological journey across back country roads
and generations to unearth the rich legacy of this art." — Kirkus
Reviews

Monday, November 12, 2012

Bessinger, certainly the most famous surname in South Carolina barbecue. Mustard sauce, Piggy Park. Icons of South Carolina history and culture and Bessinger family inventions.

One of fourteen children born to Mack Bessinger, restaurant patriarch Joseph Jacob, was known as ‘Big Joe.’ He moved from the family farm near Orangeburg to open the Holly Hill Café in 1939. There, together with the Sweatman family, he concocted a mustard-based barbecue sauce, owning to their shared German roots. That “Golden Secret,” as the Bessingers call it, became the state’s signature sauce.

Melvin Bessinger, like most of his ten siblings, followed his father into the barbecue business. In 1961, with another brother, Melvin opened his first barbecue restaurant in west Charleston. Three decades later, Melvin split off to found his own barbecue joint. Today, third-generation barbecue entrepreneur, David Bessinger, maintains the Bessinger family tradition.

A motorcycle accident left a teenage Thomas Brown with a broken leg. Confined to bed and with a hot plate set up within reach, he learned to cook for himself. In 1981, he started serving takeout plates—rice and gravy, yams, barbecue—from a window on the family farm. A decade later, he built the dining room, as large as the buffet table is long.

At Brown’s Bar-B-Q, dinner, or lunch, is like Thanksgiving eating enjoyed every day of the week. The fresh vegetables, the variety of meats; all the desserts that can’t fit on one plate. It’s hard to keep track of all the gravies.